WEST POINT, N.Y. – The Harry S. Truman Scholarship Foundation recently announced that Cadet Martayn Van de Wall, Class of 2024, an International Relations major, from West Friendship, Md., earned a Truman Scholarship. 

He is one of 62 Truman Scholars selected from 705 candidates nominated by 275 colleges and universities, a record number of applicants. 

"Our cadets’ commitment to public service and thoughtful leadership continues to garner recognition from national and international scholarship foundations,” said Dean of the U.S. Military Academy’s Academic Board Brig. Gen. Shane Reeves. “A well-rounded leader, published scholar, and dedicated mentor, Cadet Van de Wall will make an outstanding Truman scholar.”

Van de Wall is a first-generation American born and raised outside of Baltimore, Md. After spending a year in ROTC at Vanderbilt University, he recognized his love for military leadership and transferred to West Point. Van de Wall studies international relations with a focus on strategic collaboration and coherence within NATO. At West Point, he regularly competes in the Sandhurst military skills competition and serves as a leader of two training programs for combat skills. He is a graduate of the Army’s Sapper Leader and Air Assault courses, a West Point Writing Fellow, and Stamps Scholar. This summer he will help lead Cadet Basic Training, overseeing the transition of 1,100 new cadets as they begin their West Point experience. In the future, he hopes to contribute to the Army’s talent management policies and strengthen North Atlantic Treaty Organization partnerships as a member of NATO’s policy planning division.

Awarded during the junior year, the Harry S. Truman Scholarship, established by Congress in 1975, is the premier nationally competitive scholarship for young Americans committed to public service leadership. Recipients of the Truman Scholarship receive a $30,000 scholarship toward graduate school and the opportunity to participate in professional development programming to help prepare them for careers in public service leadership. 

Since its creation in 1975, the Truman Scholarship Foundation has supported almost 3,000 Truman scholars who are making a difference in all corners of the nation and around the globe. Truman Scholarships provide exceptional professional development opportunities for the recipients and enhance the contributions West Point graduates make to the Army and the nation.

West Point cadets have earned 40 Truman Scholarships since first competing in 1992.

About West Point

The U.S. Military Academy at West Point is a four-year, co-educational, federal, liberal arts college located 50 miles north of New York City. It was founded in 1802 as America’s first college of engineering and continues today as the world’s premier leader-development institution, consistently ranked among top colleges in the country. Its mission remains constant—to educate, train, and inspire the Corps of Cadets so that each graduate is a commissioned leader of character committed to the values of Duty, Honor, Country and prepared for a career of professional excellence and service to the nation as an officer in the U. S. Army. For more information, go to www.westpoint.edu.